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Technical

System Requirements

Hardware and software requirements for running OpenClaw (formerly Moltbot) on your machine.

Minimum

Cloud API only

  • CPU2 cores
  • RAM2 GB
  • Storage10 GB
  • Network1 Mbps

Suitable for: $5 VPS, Raspberry Pi 4

Recommended

Small local models

  • CPU4 cores
  • RAM16 GB
  • Storage50 GB SSD
  • Network10 Mbps

Suitable for: Mac Mini M1, mid-range VPS

Optimal

Large local models

  • CPU8+ cores
  • RAM32+ GB
  • Storage100+ GB NVMe
  • GPU8+ GB VRAM

Suitable for: Mac Studio, Gaming PC, Server

Supported Operating Systems

Native Support

  • ✓ macOS 12+ (Monterey and later)
  • ✓ Ubuntu 20.04+
  • ✓ Debian 11+
  • ✓ Fedora 36+
  • ✓ Arch Linux (rolling)

Via Docker/WSL

  • ✓ Windows 10 (version 2004+)
  • ✓ Windows 11
  • ✓ Any Linux with Docker
  • ✓ Synology NAS (Docker)
  • ✓ QNAP NAS (Docker)
Software Dependencies

The installer handles these automatically, but for manual setup:

Required

  • • Node.js 22+ (required)
  • • pnpm 8+ (package manager)
  • • Git (for updates)

Optional

  • • Docker (for containerized setup)
  • • Ollama (for local AI models)
  • • Chromium (for browser automation)
Local AI Model Requirements

If you want to run AI locally with Ollama (free, unlimited usage):

Model SizeRAM RequiredDisk SpaceExample Models
7B8 GB4 GBLlama 3 7B, Mistral 7B
13B16 GB8 GBLlama 3 13B, CodeLlama 13B
30B+32 GB20 GBLlama 3 70B (quantized)
70B+64 GB+40 GB+Llama 3 70B (full)

* GPU with VRAM can significantly speed up local model inference. Apple Silicon Macs can use unified memory efficiently.

Network Requirements
  • ✓Gateway Port (18789) — OpenClaw gateway runs on port 18789
  • ✓Outbound HTTPS (443) — For AI API calls (if using cloud AI)
  • ✓Inbound (optional) — Only if hosting webhooks for certain integrations
  • ✓WebSocket support — For real-time messaging (Telegram, Discord)
  • ✓Stable connection — OpenClaw auto-reconnects but benefits from reliability
Configuration Files
  • ✓Config Path — ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json
  • ✓Data Directory — ~/.openclaw/data/
  • ✓Logs — ~/.openclaw/logs/
Recommended Hardware Setups

Mac Mini M2

Best Value

16GB RAM, 256GB SSD. Perfect balance of performance, power efficiency, and silence. Can run 7B-13B models locally with great speed.

$5-10 VPS

Budget

DigitalOcean, Hetzner, or Vultr. Use cloud AI APIs. 24/7 uptime, accessible anywhere.

Gaming PC / Workstation

Power User

32GB+ RAM, RTX 3080+. Run large local models (30B-70B) with GPU acceleration.

Ready to Install?

Choose your platform and get started.

Download OpenClawInstallation Guide